


Hesitant Kiss

by TWDObsessive



Series: Kisses [3]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Chemistry, Cuddling & Snuggling, Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes Feels, First Kiss, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Kissing, M/M, Protective!Daryl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-05 04:25:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10297469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TWDObsessive/pseuds/TWDObsessive
Summary: Another mini one-shot for the "Kisses Series"3. Hesitant Kiss - The type of kiss where their lips touch a brush against each other’s a few times, breath fanning across each other’s faces as one waits for the other to make a move.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Justley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justley/gifts).



> Not beta'd because this was just a random snow day one-shot. 
> 
> I noticed I gifted the first two, so I'm gonna make each of these kisses fics a gift.
> 
> Gifting this one to Justley. I'm not trying to bribe her into finishing a fantastic Rickyl that I know she's writing or anything. But if she is so motivated by this lovely gesture of a gift, then so be it!

He’s saved me more times than I can count, saved all of us, but always kept a special eye on me and my children. It was impossible not to notice. Daryl showed up when I needed him most, always, as if he sensed my need and came to me like a homing pigeon. I was his homebase, his north star, and I knew it. He’d saved me again as we were surrounded by the dead on our way back from a run. 

It almost seemed like a shock to stumble upon so many walkers. Our trouble was usually more with the living these days or just bad luck at finding supplies. A couple days ago, when Daryl and I went out on a run, it was the Jesus fiasco and the loss of one hell of a goldmine in a truck that’s now completely submerged in the nearby lake. The couple times before that we were able to scrape up some decent supplies, mostly food, and we barely saw any dead at all.

We’d been raiding a trailer park with the mindset that no one else would think to bother with it. We found most of the homes unlooted, and started packing the truck with Spam, batteries and flashlights, some old well-used tools and a couple large generic bags of stale cereal. At the third mobile home, I walked out the door like I hadn’t a care in the world. It had just been so damn long since we’d had a group of them that big sneak up on us. I had teeth at my jugular before I even realized what was happening and dropped my armful of Spam and batteries to push the closest one away. Now that I was out there I had no idea how we missed the sound of their snarls coming towards us. We’d just been looting… and talking. Laughing maybe a little too loud. Maybe we’d just gotten ourselves distracted. I managed to push back the one that nearly chewed out my throat again, enough that I could reach for my knife, but another reached for me and got a fist full of my shirt and a third was pulling my hand into the crowd of them. It all happened so fast.

I heard Daryl instantly behind me during the haze of it all calling my name. Heard a few gunshots and the dead closest dropped to the ground, one of them pulling my worn out button-up off me as it collapsed. Daryl pushed me ahead knocking walkers out of the way with his elbows and we managed to climb into the old bread truck we’d been using to collect on our runs. He pulled down the door putting us in pitch black except for a spot of light from a rusted out corner in the roof.

“You bit?” he asked, his hands moving gently over my face like a blind person trying to see.

“No,” I gasped, out of breath, “thanks to you. Almost forgot we had dead. Don’t know how I stumbled into that. So fucking stupid.”

“No, my fault. I was in there talkin’ your ear off. We just couldn’t hear it.”

I stood up straight now that I’d caught my breath. “Daryl, you said like six words. ‘Huh?’, ‘Sure’, ‘yeah’ and ‘I’d eat it.’ If anyone was talking too much it was me babblin’ on about Judith like she’s the only baby on earth that ever took her first step.”

“Yeah,” he responded. “But I like listening to you ramble so I probably encouraged it. Plus, she may actually BE the only baby on earth right now so I think it’s worth the conversation.”

“That’s going a little dark, man,” I said with a quiet laugh. The sound of bodies hitting the truck and hungry moans surrounded us. “So what’s the game plan here?” I asked.

“Stay put and stay quiet until something else catches their attention. Should happen before the measly rations we have in here dry up. Storm’ll come or, gunshots will ring out from somewhere or a deer will catch their attention. Just gotta hang tight be quiet,” he said. “I been in worse situations, Rick. And so have you. Remember Terminus?”

Daryl stayed close to me as he talked even though there was a few square feet of room in the truck. He was trying to calm me because he could tell I was still shaken. In fact now that my eyes were adjusting to the meager light I could see that he looked just as rattled. It was winter and my shirt had been ripped off so whether it was residual nerves or just me being cold, I wasn’t sure, but I was trembling. 

“Just a little cold. We get any blankets today?” I asked.

“No, that was yesterday,” he said as he took off a jacket he was wearing and handed it to me. “Zipper don’t work but it will help,” he said.

“Leaves you in a damn T-shirt though. I can’t take it.” 

“Rick, you’re shivering like crazy and you're turning blue,” he whispered, trying to keep the level low so the walkers didn’t keep clawing at the vehicle. He reached around me and forced me into his jacket and then slid his hands inside it to wrap around my back. His hands were nice and warm against me and he pressed his body up against mine. “Body heat. Like the old days. Remember that winter we was on the run?” 

I nodded still shivering a bit. He put his hand in my curls and tucked my nose against his neck. 

“Kinda miss that winter. Easier times. Never would have thought we’d look back on that as easier times,” I said, my lips against his shoulder as I spoke.

“Maybe it’s just that you liked cuddlin’ me,” Daryl said with a chuckle.

And you know... it was. I liked Daryl being close to me. Liked the feel of his body against mine, liked the way he could comfort me and the trust I earned that allowed me to comfort him back. “Maybe,” I whispered softly.

He stayed quiet as he slipped one of his hands out from under the jacket and rubbed at my curls with it. I felt so cared for in his arms, so protected, so… loved. All the time I was supposed to be the strong one, the one in charge. But here in the dark alone with Daryl holding me tight, I could relax and let him take care of me.

I pulled my face out of the crook of his neck and rested my forehead against his. “Might not be so bad in here for a while,” I whispered, my lips as close to his as they’ve ever been. Daryl and I had chemistry. There was no denying that, but how far did we want to carry that? How far did _he_ want to carry it?

“You ever think about…” Daryl let the sentence die, his breath ghosting over my lips. It wasn’t a kiss yet, it was just a close proximity of mouths, barely touching in the dark.

“Think about what?” I whispered back, making sure my lips grazed his as I spoke.

Instead of answering, he held me tighter and with one hand in my hair he pressed his lips against mine as I slowly parted them. Our mouths slotted together for a kiss that had been our destiny for ages. It was hesitant and timid and quick. It was soft and gentle and overflowing with unsaid words. Then he pulled back and tucked my face back into the crook of his neck, gently stroking through my curls again and kissing at the corners of my eyes.

“I have thought about that,” I said quietly. “And I like it.”

**Author's Note:**

> The next kisses that will be written whenever the muse strikes are:
> 
> 4\. In The Moment Kiss - Maybe it’s in the middle of an argument or you just looked to damn beautiful not to kiss, but their lips were hot against yours and it felt too good to stop. 
> 
> 5\. Can’t Let Go Yet Kiss - The type of goodbye kiss when you keep leaving quick pecks on each other’s lips, but end up pulling each other back for more, which could go on for hours if one of you don’t finally pull away.
> 
> 6\. Empty Kiss - When one of you don’t kiss back, just the stoic feeling of their lips on yours, it’s empty, like no one even cares anymore.
> 
> 7\. Unbreakable Kiss - The type of kiss that really shouldn’t be happening, it’s a mistake, but you just can’t find yourself able to pull away.
> 
> 8\. Breathtaking Kiss - It’s the kiss that you can’t do anything for a few seconds after, you keep your eyes closed with mouth agape of you try to let your mind process what happened. 
> 
> 9\. Distracting Kiss - When you are competing, maybe playing video games or something so you press kisses anywhere available; arms, nose, knees, ears, knuckles, temple, just anywhere to distract them.
> 
> 10\. Quick, Goodbye Kiss - It’s the almost late for work kisses when their lips just peck yours, like an unfinished goodbye.


End file.
